READING, Pa. – A Reading man is being accused of shooting and killing his grandfather Friday night.
Brandon Villasenor, 28, of Reading, is charged with first-and-third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and possessing instruments of a crime, according to a police criminal complaint.
Police were called to the 1300 block of North 13th Street shortly after 9 p.m. for the report of a shooting, court documents say.
Officers found Villasenor’s grandfather, 74-year-old Manuel Molina, on the second floor of the home with a gunshot wound to the head, according to court paperwork. Police say the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities say officers found a 9mm caliber shell casing outside the bedroom.
Villasenor went to the home Friday night and wanted to see his grandfather, authorities said. He went up to the grandfather’s room and returned an unknown amount of time later, according to court paperwork.
WFMZ-TV | Tim Lind
The grandfather came downstairs briefly before returning to his room, authorities say. Villasenor waited in the kitchen with another person in the home, according to court documents.
After some time, the grandfather returned to the kitchen to let the person know that Villasenor had a firearm and asked if he had left, according to the police criminal complaint.
The person didn’t know where Villasenor had gone, and the grandfather began to look for him, police said. Both eventually went upstairs and found Villasenor in one of the bedrooms, court documents say.
The other person in the home went to another room, and the grandfather began arguing with Villasenor, telling him he needed to leave and could not stay at the house, according to court paperwork.
Authorities say that after a few minutes, the other person in the home heard a gunshot from the hallway. The person found Villasenor’s grandfather on the floor with a gunshot wound, according to the police criminal complaint.
Villasenor then ran away from the scene and went to his apartment, where he was taken into custody, authorities said.
After executing a search warrant, authorities found a 9mm caliber handgun in Villasenor’s apartment, court documents say.
Villasenor has a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 26.
Brandon Villasenor